(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector for use in connection of electric wires and particularly to a connector including a drain means for draining water entered inside.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Various electronic instruments are mounted on a motor vehicle as a mobile unit. A wiring harness is arranged in the motor vehicle to transmit electric power and control signals to the electronic instruments. The electronic instrument and the wiring harness are connected to each other when connectors thereof are fitted to one another.
The connector includes a connector housing and terminal fittings to be received in the connector housing. When the connectors are fitted to each other, the terminal fittings in the respective connector housings are electrically connected to one another.
As for the connector described above, a simple waterproof connector (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H7-220798) has been proposed as a connector to be used at a place where water is poured such as a place in an engine room. The simple waterproof connector includes a male connector housing (hereinafter, male housing) and a female connector housing (hereinafter, female housing) to be fitted to the male housing.
The male housing includes a terminal-receiving part for receiving a male terminal fitting and a tube-shaped male hood part which continues to the terminal-receiving part. The female housing includes a body part for receiving a female terminal fitting and a tube-shaped female hood part which is formed outside the body part and spaced from the body part. The body part of the female housing is received in the male hood part of the male housing and the male hood part of the male housing is inserted in between the female hood part and the body part of the female housing, thereby the male housing and the female housing are fitted to each other.
The simple waterproof connector described above includes: a flow gap having an enough gap distance to allow liquid such as water to flow therethrough so as not to be suffered from a capillary phenomenon, which might otherwise occur between an outer surface of the body part of the female housing and an inner surface of the hood part of the male housing; and drain holes to drain away liquid such as water entered inside the hood part of the male housing.
A plurality of the drain holes are provided on a terminal-receiving part-side end of the male hood part of the male housing and on an end of the female hood part of the female housing situated away from the male housing. The former drain holes pass through the male hood part of the male housing so as to communicate the inside and the outside to each other, while the latter drain holes pass through the female hood part of the female housing so as to communicate a space, which is inside the female hood part and outside the body part, and the outside of the female housing to each other.
The simple waterproof connector described above prevents liquid such as water from adhering on the terminal fitting and so on by draining liquid such as water entered from the drain hole after flowing down through the flow gap even when liquid such as water enters the inside of the male hood part of the male housing due to occurrence of condensation and so on.
However, the simple waterproof connector described above has a problem that when a side surface of the body part of the female housing is provided with a restricting member-receiving part, into which a restricting member for preventing the female terminal received in the body part of the female housing from coming out is inserted, there is a possibility that liquid such as water enters the body part from the restricting member-receiving part, causing a problem that the liquid such as water entered the body part of the female housing might adhere on the terminal fitting and so on.